Report: McCain joining Foreign Relations

12/10/12 2:36 PM EST

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is adding the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to his plate – just before the high-profile panel undertakes confirmation hearings for a new secretary of state.

McCain told Foreign Policy’s Josh Rogin in Manama, Bahrain, that he will join the Senate Foreign Relations Committee next year. He was forced to step down from his position as the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee due to term limits, but still plans to stay on that panel.

McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said no final decisions have been made, although the senator has “expressed interest” in joining the committee.

One of the earliest tasks that the Foreign Relations Committee will face next year will be the confirmation hearings for President Barack Obama’s choice to succeed Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. Susan Rice, now the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is widely seen as the frontrunner for the job.

McCain, along with Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), has become one of Capitol Hill’s most vociferous critics of Rice, stemming from the Obama administration’s response to the Sept. 11 attacks in Benghazi, Libya. But McCain indicated that he has questions about Rice beyond the assault that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya.

"I have some concerns about what happened in Africa under her watch. All that has not been examined," McCain told Foreign Policy.

Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker is expected to be the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee in the next Congress. The committee’s chairman is Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), who is also in the running for the secretary of state position.